When it comes to arthritis, many people's first reaction is bone and joint pain, shoulder pain is shoulder arthritis, knee pain is knee arthritis, in fact, such a general understanding is not accurate. Although osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are joint pain, the difference is still quite large. So today we will start from the difference between the two to talk about the special features of rheumatoid arthritis!
First of all, the causes and diseases are different. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, while osteoarthritis is a degeneration of cartilage during long-term wear and tear or injury.
In addition, the incidence of different populations, osteoarthritis mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old, age, obesity, gender, etc. are the pathogenesis factors of the disease; Rheumatoid arthritis occurs mostly in people between the ages of 20 and 50, mainly young adults, and the incidence of disease is more common in women than in men.
Second, the involvement of the joints and clinical symptoms are different. Osteoarthritis involves the joints between the distal ends and then involves large joints, such as the knee. Rheumatoid arthritis is dominated by the involvement of the small joints of the metacarpophalangeal joints, followed by the wrist joint and the proximal interphalangeal joint.
Both are joint pain, morning stiffness as the main clinical manifestations, but osteoarthritis to pain, redness and swelling, morning stiffness can be quickly relieved; while rheumatoid arthritis is mainly joint swelling pain, morning stiffness, synovitis as the main symptoms, and morning stiffness for a long time, not easy to alleviate. The joints are symmetrical onset, and after the course of the disease, there will also be lungs, livers, and hearts. Osteoarthritis generally does not involve organs.
Third, the clinical test results of the two are also significantly different. The doctor will prescribe a laboratory test after the physical examination to distinguish what type of joint pain your joint pain belongs to. Check the serum indicators can be distinguished, that is, immune antibody indicators such as rheumatoid factors, if positive, it is generally rheumatoid arthritis. Because osteoarthritis generally does not affect people immunely.
Finally, the treatment of the two is different. Since the causes are different, of course, the treatment is also different. As a joint wear and tear disease, osteoarthritis focuses on maintenance, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, and relieves local inflammatory symptoms. Rheumatoid arthritis is based on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs anti-inflammatory analgesia, combined with anti-rheumatic drugs. Both should pay attention to rest and not overwork.
A few differences compare to whether you have a preliminary understanding of the disease of rheumatoid arthritis.
The pathogenesis of this disease is still unknown and is still in the exploratory stage. May be internally related to immunogenetic factors and externally to environmental factors. The global incidence is 0.2%-1%, and the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in China is 0.28%-0.41%, and it is more common in women.
Studies have shown that the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in China also has seasonal and regional characteristics. The incidence of RA was the most common in spring, accounting for 36.33%, followed by winter and summer, accounting for 26.22% and 25.53%, respectively
In addition to being different from osteoarthritis, at the same time in the field of immune diseases, it is also necessary to pay attention to the difference with autoimmune disease arthritis such as psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, lupus erythematosus arthritis and so on. Of course, if you have symptoms such as joint swelling and pain or morning stiffness, you still have to find a professional doctor to diagnose it.
With the continuous improvement of the level of medical technology, the prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis has improved significantly compared with the previous one. Most clinical patients are under control and gradually resolve. With the increasing progress of science and technology, the health level of the public has improved, and the understanding of rheumatoid arthritis has also improved, but rheumatoid arthritis can endanger the lives of patients in patients with advanced, severe or long-term bedridden diseases due to co-infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, heart, lung or kidney lesions. Therefore, it is also very important to improve the awareness of protection against rheumatoid arthritis!
bibliography:
Chen Fucai. Differences and connections between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis[J]. Modern Medicine and Health Research e-Journal, 2017(8):1.
Cui Jiakang, Jiang Quan, Tang Xiaopo, et al. Season and regional factor analysis of 1602 patients with rheumatoid arthritis[J]. Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2019, v.34(10):362-365.